Monday, July 8, 2013

I am thrilled to be a part of the Sewing School 2 by Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle blog tour! **To be included with such inspiring blogs such as Red Bird Crafts, The Crafty Crow, and maya*made has me doing a happy dance and the timing couldn't have been more perfect as I had a crafty day all set up with Miss Za of the adventures of ander and zaza.

Sewing School 2 is a delightful book. The projects within are simple and adaptable with instructions that greatly helped even me (I am a wonky sewer at best). The envelope of patterns in the back keeps all the pieces within reach and the photos by Justin Fox Burns are so eye catching that Za and I peered through the book many times over making grand plans as to what would be created on our crafty date.

Miss Za has her own sewing machine at home so we skipped over the basics covered in the first few chapters (though I did go back and read on my own and found them to be super helpful for beginning sewers; zippers now seem doable!) and went straight to the projects. Though many caught our eye (the Sleepy Bear, and Stripy Quilt to name two), Za decided she wanted to stitch up her very own bag and so we turned to the ehold project and gave it a read through.

Our main fabric had a pattern going in a direction that would not work with the pattern and so I quickly stitched up a larger swath of fabric for Za to use in her bag making. Because we only had a half yard of the owl fabric Miss Za really wanted to use and because direction the owls faced on the half yard prevented up from creating the bag as described, we sat down and did another read through and some strategic planning.

Za was going to use her bag for everyday use and so we opted out of the batting but we did find a large piece of fabric in my stash that would work as a lining and so after a good pressing of seams on the larger patchwork piece we were good to go.

After cutting out the pattern, Za pinned it to her fabrics (we had a long talk about why we face the right sides together) and cut them out. The sewing machine was mostly ready, all we needed to do was select the thread. Za placed one corner of her soon-to-be bag under the needle and foot and got to sewing, remembering to do a back stitch and keeping her needle down for turning corners (the colored TIP boxes on each page were super helpful ).

After stitching, Za removed all her pins and turned her fabric right side out. She was able to refer to the book for each step. We closed up the open seam and decided on where the top part of the bag would fold over the bottom and it was back to the sewing machine. Though we did not do an exact ehold, we made use of the instructions, design, and pattern that were all there. From start to finish this bag took us a little over two hours including a trip back to the craft store to pick up ribbon for the strap. We even had some time to create a few Tag Alongs!

Back home, Miss Za has been using her bag daily and is quite proud of all the work she put in it. I really enjoyed having my basic sewing needs answered in one lovely book. I also see quite a few plush microphones and guitars in my future (the children at the preschool are gonna love them!)

If you are in the U.S. and would like an opportunity to win your very own copy of Sewing School 2 please leave me a comment here with your contact info or leave a message and like scrumdilly-do's facebook page and I will choose a winner on Wednesday, July 31st. Happy sewing and don't forget to visit each blog on the tour!

Don't miss the rest of the tour for more chances of winning your own copy:

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Here's another project that was inspired by pinterest. There are quite a few pins (and thus, blog posts and videos even) out there relating to this so I cannot attribute it to a single person. Oh and it was also at the San Mateo Maker Faire so there ya go.

For this project you will need paper, scissors, permanent markers, rubbing alcohol, masking tape, straws or pencils, and either a small misting bottle, ear swap, or eye dropper.

Set up in a mess friendly area. I used a vinyl tablecloth with a large sheet of wax paper on top. To create eight flags you will need a single sheet of white paper 11"X17". You can also use index cards or smaller sheets of paper but I wanted to use a large sheet to get your kiddos into paper folding and cutting on a line. Have your kiddo fold their paper so that they have eight squares. Hand them a pair of scissors and have them cut long the folded lines.

Gather up your permanent markers and get to creating a happy flag. The more marker lines you add, the more blended and colorful your flag will be.

Now it is time to add the rubbing alcohol. It goes without saying that you should not leave your child alone while working on this project. The alcohol is a bit intense in scent but so are the markers. It also looks a lot like water so make sure you use a very small container to hold it and never leave your child unattended. The more alcohol that is dripped and dribbled onto the paper, the more it will spread and fade. If you wish for a brighter result, use a cotton swap to "draw" the alcohol onto the marker lines. A fine mister bottle would work as well for older children. Set aside to dry.

Once dry, use tape or glue to attach a straw or pencil to the back to create a handle. Ta-da! Fun flags you can wave at your very own Fourth of July parade! Omit the pencils and straws and you cn turn this into a garland by gluing or taping to a couple yards of ribbon.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

This nifty doohickey was made from egg carton pieces and beads. Add a bell or two and you can call it a wind chime!

Back in 2009 I shared with you my fondness for spin art. This year I discovered this awesome idea from Not So SAHM via pinterest. I thought the idea of using egg cartons in the salad spinner was brilliant and tucked it away in the noggin for a Fourth of July project. The only problem was I no longer had a salad spinner and so I kept my eyes peeled for one at the thrifts and scored this basic model for $3.25! Cutting it quite close to the wire, I managed to actualize what I visualized and now I have a diy for you!

Materials:

*salad spinner

*egg carton cups

*acrylic, tempera, or biocolor paint

*embroidery thread

*fat needle

*assorted beads

*scissors

The first thing you need to do is liberate your cups from a paper egg carton. This is not a kiddo project as the pulp from the egg carton is a bit wonky to cut. Keep this part for the grown-ups. Sharp scissors work best.

Place egg carton pieces into your salad spinner and add paint. Your kiddos can easily do this and will thoroughly love squirting the paint on top of the egg carton pieces.

Place lid on spinner and have your kiddo give it a whirl or two. There are at least three different styles of salad spinners out there. We use all three at the preschool I work at as each of them offer different challenges to children. Keep this in mind when hunting for a salad spinner. Will your child be able to turn, pump, or pull the mechanism? For toddlers we use a pump model. The pre-k children love the pull model and the threes like to crank away.

Set aside the egg cartons to dry.

While the paint is drying, have your child sort out red, white, and blue beads from your assortment.

When paint is dry, thread a needle with a longish length of embroidery thread. Double the thread and knit it. This will keep the needle from slipping off (I did not double my thread and lost my needle twice).

Begin adding beads. You can ask your child to count out and thread a specific number of beads to practice counting or let them create patterns as they thread away. After they have threaded a series of beads it is time to poke the needle through an egg carton piece. Poke the needle up through the inside of the cup so that the cup faces down over the beads. Add more beads, then another egg carton cup, then more beads, repeating until your child has their desired number of cups and beads on their thread. Tie of thread into a loop and use scissors to cut off any excess.

Hang in a happy place and watch it blow around in the breeze. Add bells to the bottom before beading to create a wind chime of sorts.

To create a fun, festive garland all you need to do is glue your napkins
to a a few yards of ribbon in an ABAB pattern, allow to dry, then hang! To conserve napkin use, cut your napkins in half before gluing. Have fun!

Monday, July 1, 2013

All you need to create a fun garland and these medallions is a couple of packs of holiday festive paper napkins!

materials:

*three paper napkins

*scissors

*glue stick

*yarn

*ribbon

*white glue

I found my napkins at Target on sale. I had been eyeballing them for a while and was pleased to find them discounted. Party stores may also be a good source for holiday themed napkins. Open napkin so that it is a rectangle shape, cut in half. Kiddos can practice their cutting skills while doing this.

Next, accordion fold each rectangle up from the bottom, about four folds. Fold in half to create a fan shape. Draw a line of glue with a gluestick on one end of your folded napkin and adhere to the other.

You will need three napkins per medallion (that's six small fan shapes) so repeat the cut and fold process three times. Use glue stick to glue all edges together to create a circle.

Give your finished medallion a small snip with your scissors (a hole punch will not work) and thread with a length of yarn that can be doubled and knotted for easier hanging.

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All images and content (c) 2007 - (c) 2018, Jessica Wilson, unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of images or content without permission is prohibited. Please give me a shout out if you have any questions!